Discussion Draft released for Employment Zoning Project

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West (and East) side story of the Central City

Having completed plans for the N/NE Quadrant of the Central City last year, the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is now turning its attention to the SE Quadrant and the entire west side of the Central City.

From Old Town/Chinatown to the University District and from Goose Hollow to South Waterfront, the West Quadrant of the Central City is vibrant, diverse and full of rich history and new opportunity. The West Quadrant Plan will examine a range of land use, urban design, economic development, transportation and environmental issues to guide future public and private investment and development in the area.

To help inform the planning process and advise staff, a West Quadrant Plan Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) has been convened. Staff have been sharing information about the history of the area and previous planning work with them, as well as identifying issues and opportunities in the area. (Read about these in the West Quadrant Reader.) These meetings were in preparation for the West Quadrant Charrette, a week-long event (June 10-14) where the project team, SAC, other agency staff, technical experts and the public developed and tested ideas for the area with the Central City 2035 Concept Plan policies, and brainstormed implementation tools and strategies. These ideas will help the SAC and project team to develop concept map layers and eventually a draft plan framework for the west side of the Central City.

As evidenced by the growing span across the Willamette River just south of the Marquam Bridge, the Portland-Milwaukie light rail line is under construction and set to open in 2015. This summer, the City of Portland will begin the process of updating the vision and long-range plan for the new light rail station areas at OMSI, SE Clinton, Rhine and Holgate. The summer station area planning process is the first phase of the Southeast Quadrant and Inner Southeast Station Area Planning process.

This project will explore potential land use, urban design and transportation concepts for these four station areas, with a focus on:

To gather community input about the future character of these new station areas, a series of public worksessions, neighborhood walks and a two-day design charrette are scheduled from June through August. All interested community members and stakeholders are invited to participate. See the flyer for a full schedule of summer events.

In addition to the close-in southeast station areas on the new Portland-Milwaukie light rail alignment, the SE Quadrant and Inner SE Station Area Planningproject will involve detailed planning for the entire Central Eastside District of the Central City. The SE Quadrant Plan process, which will formally begin in the fall of 2013, is an element of the broader Central City 2035 (CC2035) project to update the 1988 Central City Plan. It will examine the long-term role and character of the Central Eastside, exploring ways to leverage new investment with an emphasis on increasing employment opportunities and revitalizing mixed-use corridors. As a result of this effort, new policies, urban design concepts and potential zoning updates will emerge to guide future growth and development.